A Meal to Remember
by Chranze
Summary: Picture Faust. Picture Faust in the supermarket with Manta. Picture Eliza. Picture Eliza in the kitchen with her scythe. Picture a traditional Faust family meal on the table and six unfortunate souls who are trying to help a necromancer feel at home.
1. Chapter 1

**Sum**: Picture Faust. Picture Faust in the supermarket with Manta. Picture Eliza. Picture Eliza in the kitchen with her scythe. Picture a traditional Faust family meal on the table and six unfortunate souls who are trying to help a German necromancer feel at home. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is all Yoh's fault.

**A Meal to Remember**  
**Chapter One**

"We're not cooking dinner tonight."

Yoh stopped his music; Faust and Eliza looked up from their book as Manta did the same from his laptop; Frankie raised his skull head; Chocolove and Horohoro tore their eyes away from the TV screen; Ryu and Ren abandoned their activity of arguing who was stronger than who to stare at Anna and a nervous Tamao standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Why?" Horohoro asked, incredulously.

"Because," Anna said as her eyes dangerously narrowed, "Tamao cut her hand." As if on cue, the timid pink-haired girl held up her right hand, which was wrapped awkwardly in a bandage to make it look like one big giant fist. "And it wouldn't be fair if I had to cook alone while the others cook together in pairs, would it?"

"But Tamao's the one who cooks whenever it's your turn anyways!" Horohoro yelled as he pointed an accusing finger at Anna. He was awarded with a smart slap on his cheek that sent him flying across the room.

"Tamao cut her hand," Anna repeated as she gazed at Horohoro with half-closed, menacing eyes. "You don't expect the injured to cook do you?"

"N-no... " Horohoro nervously laughed as he inched away to hide behind Faust's chair. "Tamao shouldn't move a finger tonight! The injured making dinner! Yeah, that's just bogus!" Ren rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, but the keen ainu managed to hear the last word which sounded something like "pathetic."

"I'm going to take Tamao to the doctor's," Anna continued. "We'll be back late, so you boys should fix dinner yourselves."

She surveyed the room with her most famous death glare, silently daring anyone to raise an argument. Nobody made a sound.

"Right, then..." Anna crossed the living room and headed towards the hall. "I want the house to be speck and clean when I come back; it looks like a pigsty." Sure enough, the living room alone was a mess. Comic books were strewn everywhere, cracker crumbs littered the tatami mats and the round table, a few socks here and there, and an occasional tangerine peel could be seen on the floor. "I'll see you boys tomorrow at four in the morning for your early training."

Tamao scurried after Anna, keeping her head down and frantically muttered apologies as she followed her mistress out of the room. There were the sounds of the front door sliding open, the girls putting on their shoes, and the final clang of the wooden gate doors being closed. Silence ensued for a brief moment.

"That bossy witch!" Horohoro suddenly howled as he nursed his red cheek. Kororo chattered sympathetically as she hovered near her partner's injured cheek."There wasn't even blood on that bandage! That was just an excuse so they could skip their turn of making dinner!"

"But you should know better than to argue with Anna, Horohoro," Yoh said with a teasing, relaxed voice. Amidamaru chuckled.

"That doesn't mean she can just slap me across the room!" the distressed ainu hollered.

"You're the most pathetic shaman I've ever laid my eyes on, ainu-baka," Ren sneered with a smirk. Bason, Ren's obsequious spirit, nodded sincerely in agreement.

"NANI?!"

"So who's going to cook dinner?"

Ryu's question was simple; so were the reactions. Horohoro stopped in mid-snarl as Ren's smirk disappeared in a flash. Yoh suddenly became very interested in a piece of lint on the tatami mats and Chocolove abruptly turned his attention back to the TV screen, careful not to crack any jokes to attract attention.

"I can't believe a bunch of shamans are unwilling to fix dinner than they are on risking their life in the SF," Tokagero, Ryu's former bandit spirit, snorted.

"Well... Yoh cooks the best out of all seven of us, so..." Horohoro said as he glanced hopefully at Yoh.

"But Manta and I were in charge of dinner last night," Yoh mumbled.

"You aren't possibly suggesting that Ryu and Ren should cook are you?" Chocolove asked with a uncharacteristically serious look. "Don't you remember last time when they served curry?"

"Oh yeah... Paste X," Horohoro snickered as he recalled the gooey, black substance Ren and Ryu had made in an attempt to fix a Three Minute Do it by Yourself Curry for dinner. Ryu was actually considered as a good chef, but reccently most of his works ended up disasterous ever since he was partnered with Ren for serving dinner (the team had chosen partners randomly by picking straws). Not only that, there were a lot of dishes broken in the process as they bickered continuously and not even Ryu's good cooking skills could do anything about the burnt/salty/tasteless/inedible dishes Ren cooked, which were mostly what the team ended up eating.

Ren's jaws tightened; he didn't like being laughed at even though it was for being incompetent in doing household chores. But he soon scoffed and s aid, "This means that me and Ryu are out of the question of whose serving dinner, jackass."

"Chocolove," Yoh said as he poked his friend in the side, "couldn't you and Horohoro cook tonight? You two are in charge of dinner tomorrow night anyways..."

"But I really don't feel like cooking right now," Chocolove sighed as he leaned onto the round table. "And Kororo always bothers us whenever Horohoro is cooking with me..."

"Well, someone has to cook dinner," Manta irritably said.

"I'll do it."

All heads snapped towards the owner of the voice. Faust, who had been silent through the whole conversation, was smiling merrily in his chair, his book closed.

"... 'I' as in you, Faust?" Ryu asked stupidly.

"Yes," the German necromancer cheerfully said, getting up from his seat. Frankie let out an excited bark as he raced into the kitchen. "It's been such a long time since I ever cooked anything and it would be nice to do something useful for everyone after all the help I got from Anna-san."

The boys glanced each other nervously.

Faust?

Cooking?

Come again?

None of the boys had a good feeling about it. Why?

1. Faust liked dissecting people.

2. Faust was German, meaning that he had different tastes as them.

3. Faust liked dissecting people.

4. Faust did not look like the type who could wear a frilly apron and use the stove.

5. Faust liked dissecting people.

To put it simply, nobody was keen on letting Faust serving dinner because Faust was... well, Faust.

"Uh, don't you think you're overworking yourself, Faust?" Horohoro nervously said as he stumbled over words for the right ones. "I mean- uh- you're a doctor and all and we can't have you- uh- getting sick... Yeah! We can't have you getting sick!" he finished triumphantly as he came up with the last excuse.

"I am quite fine, thank you Horohoro-kun," Faust smiled, gently leading Eliza by the hand to the kitchen. Chocolove quickly blocked the entrance with a nervous laugh, racking his brains for a random punch line that would go with the situation but his mind was blank.

"You don't have to cook, certainly not!" Chocolove exclaimed as he tried not to sweat under Eliza's impassive, yet boring gaze. "Say, have I already told you about that joke about the German and the-

"Yes, you have," Faust said, quirking a suspicious eyebrow as he tried to get past but to no avail. "And I assure you, I'll cook quite fine with Eliza to help me. Unless..." He hesitated, lowering his head and pursing his lips slightly as he looked down at Chocolove. "Unless you do not wish for me to serve dinner..."

Chocolove was quite taken back at his reaction; but he was even more surprised when he found Eliza glaring menacingly at him for upseting her husband. Horohoro shared quick glances with Ren, bewildered of why anyone would get so upset of not getting the job of cooking dinner. Manta already looked nervous, afraid of what Eliza would do if Faust was displeased, but Yoh, like usual, was the one who patched up the situation.

"Not at all, Faust," Yoh said with his laid back smile, earning a few incredulous glares from his friends. "We've been selfish, hogging all the cooking tasks for ourselves. We'd love it if you'd cook for us. It won't be so bad trying out a new cuisine, ne Manta?" He asked, innocently grinning towards his human friend.

"Y-yeah..." Manta tentatively replied.

A bright smile immediately replaced the mild, depressed look on Faust's face. "Well, then!" he cheerfully said as he passed a dumbstruck Chocolove, "You may look forward to dinner, gentlemen! I'll make this dinner a meal to remember!"

As soon as Faust and Eliza disappeared into the kitchen, all six occupants of the room stormed over to Yoh, shooting him accusing, annoyed looks.

"Not cool, man," Chocolove said, shaking his head. "Not cool."

"What the hell were you thinking, Yoh?" Horohoro groaned in a hushed whisper. "It's Faust we're talking about cooking here! FAUST!"

"We never even saw him cook before, baka!" Ren hissed. "Who knows what the maniac will do?"

"Yoh-danna," Ryu said with a worried face. "Faust may be our companion, but that doesn't mean he's not capable of accidentally poisoning us."

"What if he slips in an intestine or something?" Manta moaned, slightly shaking. "Or uses one of his skulls for brewing soup-"

"Minna," Yoh said calmly in his mild voice, silencing everybody. "Faust is our friend. He wants to help us; he means no harm, you know that. It's bad enough that he's naturally quiet, but he's having trouble trying to fit in with us already because of different languages. Faust wanting to serve dinner means that he's finally opening up to us. Let's give him a chance."

It was one of those rare moments when Yoh would actually say something that wasn't rash or overly optimistic, but was commenting the truth. The others said nothing, but still had apprehensive looks.

"Manta," Yoh said with a warm smile as he turned to his friend, "I know you're still afraid of Faust, but you have to understand that the Faust you were scared of is not the Faust of the Funbari Onsen Team. This Faust is innocent now that Anna has permanently called back Eliza's soul. He's just a gentle, happy guy; he's not that crazy maniac who tried to dissect you. Forget the past and try bonding with him. He's a nice guy."

Manta stared at Yoh and realized that he was right. Faust was never a bad guy... He was simply so innocent that he was driven mad by the loss of his wife, but now that Eliza's soul could be called upon by Anna, Faust had no motive to be Shaman King. And Faust DID take care of him whenever he was ill...

As Manta pondered quietly, the others looked up as Faust walked in with Eliza hand in hand.

"Oi, where're you guys going?" Ryu asked.

"There's not enough ingredients for dinner, so Eliza and I are going to the market," Faust smiled enthusiastically, still thrilled about the thought of making dinner.

"Hey, how about one of us go with you instead of Eliza?" Yoh suggested with a laidback grin. "You'll need someone to help you with Japanese and the rest of us will help Eliza set up dinner."

"I do not wish to be much of a trouble..." Faust muttered, but stopped short when Manta abruptly stood up.

"I'll go with you, Faust!" the abnormally short boy announced, his round face shining with determination.

"Yeah, go with Manta, Faust," Yoh urged as he got to his feet, smiling. "It'll be much faster if Eliza stays back to get other ingredients ready. And we'll help her along, right, minna?" He grinned at the rest of the group.

The boys looked at each other for a moment. Ryu was the first to get to his feet.

"I say we split up the tasks! Me, Yoh-danna, and Chinese baka will fix up the house and Chocolove and Horohoro can help with the dinner!"

"Why am I included in there?" Ren snarled.

"You live in this house too, Chinese chibi!" Ryu argued back, his face dangerously close to Ren's and pointing an accusing finger at the annoyed shaman's chest. "And you'll be suffering along with us when Okami comes back to find the house still a mess!"

"Ryu's right," Yoh laughed, "Anna will surely triple our training sessions if the house cleaning is not satisfactory."

"Well, as long as Ren and Ryu aren't cooking," Horohoro grinned, "it's fine with me!"

"And I'll provide a dinner show while everyone's working!" Chocolove exclaimed, suddenly dressed in his favorite banana suit.

"We don't need any of your stupid jokes, BAKA!" Horohoro yelled.

Faust watched quietly Ren and Ryu bickering, Horohoro wrestling Chocolove out of his ridiculous banana suit, and Yoh laughing heartedly. He wondered again why he even bothered staying in this cramped house in a foreign country full of bickering, overly lively kids, but he knew the answer to that already.

Smiling warmly, he looked down at Manta, who was fidgeting slightly.

"Go and get your coat, Manta-kun," the doctor softly, barely audible over the shouts and quarreling. "It can get chilly outside."

Manta smiled and scurried off. Faust turned back to his wife, who had a curious expression on her face.

_"Manta-kun will accompany me to the market, liebe,_" he said as he kissed her forehead. _"Would you please stay here and get the vegetables ready?"_

She gave him a wistful look, showing her disapproval of being separated, but gave a nod. He kissed her forehead again and nuzzled his nose into her soft hair. She whispered softly in her native language and Faust merely nodded as she glided out of the room and down the hallway.

"Hey, where's Eliza going?" Manta asked, getting into his coat.

"She wants to change into a more comfortable outfit. Summer in Japan can get quite humid compared to Germany," Faust answered cheerfully.

"We'll be going then," Faust said as Manta hurried towards the door.

"Ah, come back soon, okay?" Yoh grinned, not paying much attention to the "I'll slice that ridiculous hair of yours!" nor the "You call mine ridiculous, pointy head?" and the "People never appreciate good jokes anymore!" and the "Just get your fat ass out of that dumb banana, puffy hair!"

"Hai," Faust smiled.

It all started off with Yoh's simple suggestion of pleasing Faust. After realizing what Yoh had said was absolutely true, no one was going to argue about the issue anymore. Which was such a shame. Because no one even had the slightest idea of how this simple suggestion of letting Faust fix dinner was going to become TRUELY "a meal to remember."

* * *

**Vocabulary:**

**Nani - **what

**Baka** - stupid

**Minna **- Everyone

**Chibi **- shorty

**Okami** - similar to mistress. Ryu tends to call Anna this way.

**Liebe** - love (German)

It's been such a long time since I have read Shaman King. I've reccently seen a few episodes of the animation and I like the idea of Faust keeping his legs, thank you very much. I will appreciate any review that points out errors about Shaman King protrayed in my story, but I do not see complaining about OOC as an error about the manga/anime 'cause I'm going to ignore those reviews:).

Thank you for reading. The story is eventually going to develop into humor. Reviews will be nice and will mean faster updates:p


	2. Chapter 2

Before I go on with the chapter, I would like to thank those who reviewed.

**Glacier alchemist**: Thank you for your support :)

**Lizard Pie**: I'm thrilled that I've managed to keep them in character. Thank you :p

**Falcon Strife**: Many thanks for pointing out Tokagero's spelling for me:) I was just too damn lazy to look for it. I didn't really intend on any father and son relationship between Manta and Faust, but there might be some scenes 'cause I find it cute:) And I really don't like it when people forget that Ryu and Faust are loyal to Anna and Yoh; I think it kinda breaks their image.

**sakuuya**: Thank you for reviewing:D

**4gVn sOuL**: And here is your update! I'm currently enjoying your Dream Journals:)

And yes, thank you for reminding me about Ryu's cooking skills. It's been a really long time since I've seen the manga and Yoh's considered to be quite a good cook in the anime. But I added explainations to why dinner outcomes aren't so great when Ren and Ryu are cooking in chapter one just for the heck of it. Enjoy!

**A Meal to Remember**  
**Chapter Two**

The supermarket was crowded with people. Manta didn't expect nothing less since it was nearly six, the "rush hour" for shopping for dinner supplies, but now that he watched people bustle around hurriedly to get their shopping done, he felt a bit intimidated because of his small height. It wouldn't be the first time he got lost in the sea of legs.

Manta unconsciously gripped the hem of Faust's long doctor robe as he eyed the crowd. Faust looked down at the short boy with an assuring smile as he pulled out a shopping cart.

"Would you like to ride in the cart, Manta-kun?" Faust asked with what Manta thought as a teasing voice.

"No," the boy said irritably, blushing slightly. He let go of Faust's robe, forgetting his fear of getting lost in the crowd and rigidly marched forward. Faust blinked; he smiled and pushed the cart after Manta.

Manta was passing the vegetable section when he noticed a big sales sign and a busy crowd haggling over the prices at the seafood section.

"Hey, they're having a huge sale on crabs!" Manta exclaimed as he pointed at the sign above. "Let's get a few while they're still in stock! ...Faust?"

Manta looked around when he didn't immediately hear the usual quiet, polite answer from his companion. He spotted him still at the vegetable corner, staring intently at the rows of fresh greens preserved under a cool temperature.

"Faust?" The German necromancer looked up when Manta scurried over to his side. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, Manta-kun," Faust said, a mild distressed look on his tired face, "I'm looking for a vegetable, but I'm having some trouble finding it. And I can't quite recall how it's called in Japanese..."

"Well, that's what I'm here for!" Manta said proudly as he puffed out his chest. "Describe it to me."

The doctor smiled brightly. "It's orange."

'Too easy!' Manta thought, pleased at how everything was flowing well. Maybe Yoh was right; maybe this whole Faust fixing dinner event wasn't as quite as bad as he had imagined. He quickly surveyed the rows of vegetables until he finally spotted what he was looking for. With a nimble hop, Manta grabbed a bag from the row and held it up to Faust.

"This is what you're looking for," Manta said as he proudly handed the vegetable over to him, "we call it 'ninjin.'"

Faust stared at the bag of carrots before shaking his head. "No... This vegetable has orange roots. I'm looking for a vegetable with orange leaves."

"...Leaves?" Manta stared.

"Yes," he said simply.

"Orange...leaves?"

"Quite right," he said cheerfully.

"Eh... I'll... I'll need more descriptions..." Manta said slowly, not liking how this conversation was flowing. Perhaps Faust was getting his Japanese incorrectly?

Faust looked up pensively, as if the ceiling would magically tell him what to say. "It has buldgy roots like a potato," he started slowly, "and its sprouts are brown..."

"Wait, wait..." Manta cut in, digging into his pocket and retrieving a small notepad and pen. "It has buldgy roots and sprouts..." he muttered as he scribbled onto the paper. "And orange leaves..."

"And it's harvested in late spring."

"Harvested...late...spring..." Manta said, gently biting his tongue, scribbling vigorously. He held up the notebook for Faust to see. "Does it look like that?"

It was quite a crude drawing of some demented thing with a lanky structure but with overly huge bulges at the tip. The sprouts Manta had drawn looked more like worms and the leaves resembled ones of an oak tree. A caption scribbled barely legibly in Japanese read "harvest: late spring."

Normally, anyone who saw it would have said "What the hell is that?".

But Johann Faust VIII, necromancer and doctor of the Funbari Onsen Team, wasn't normal.

"Yes, it does!" he exclaimed, excited, earning strange looks from passer-bys. "You surely have the talents of an artist, Manta-kun!"

"Eheh..." Manta grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. He looked at his drawing, but silently hoped that Faust was recollecting the image of the wanted vegetable incorrectly. He certainly didn't want to eat THAT. Whatever it was. "I'll go ask if they have any," Manta said, pointing to an employee unloading a heap of cabbages from a cart. Faust nodded and Manta jogged off.

"Ano, tsumimasen..." Manta called out. The employee looked up, then down, and on spotting Manta flashed a smile.

"Hai. May I help you?"

"Yes, my friend's looking for a vegetable. He's from Germany you see," Manta explained glancing over at Faust, who was observing the bag of carrots in his hand, poking and proding while turning it this way and that as if he was examining a body. The employee had followed Manta's glance and immediately Manta regretted even mentioning Faust; the employee had stiffened as his eyes traveled from the dark circles under Faust's eyes, the purple lips, the necromancy markings on his neck, and the large patch of purple-bluish skin on his chest. Faust looked up from the carrots, and upon noticing Manta and the employee staring at him, gave a cheerful smile.

"Well, anyways," Manta quickly said, "we're having some trouble finding it."

"Oh..." he said, slowly tearing his eyes away from the foreigner. "What are you looking for?"

"Well, my friend doesn't know what it's called in Japanese," Manta said as he handed the employee the notepad, "but he said it looks like that."

He stared.

"And this is...?"

"I don't know... A vegetable, I guess," Manta said uneasily.

"A vegetable," he repeated, his eyebrow quirked in annoyance.

"Well, he said it looked something like that," Manta muttered.

"There's a vegetable that looks like a radish with over grown testicles and brown horns," the employee said in a flat, irritated voice.

"And orange leaves," Manta meekly pointed out.

He scowled. "I'm sorry, but we only import EDIBLE things."

"Manta-kun?"

A shadow appeared over Manta and the little boy looked up to see the necromancer towering over both him and the startled employee with his large height.

"Oh, hello," he said cheerfully towards the employee. He then turned to Manta and held up the bag of carrots. "Manta-kun, I forgot that the vegetable I was looking for was banned from harvesting a few years ago. Silly me," he added with a light laugh. "Everything has just been slipping out of my mind these days. I'll just have to use these um, neenjeen? Yes, these nimjeen instead."

"Oh..." Manta said, somewhat relieved that Faust wasn't going to use- whatever the thing was. Manta turned around to thank the employee for his time, but found him already a few aisles away in a desperate attempt to put some distance between the two abnormal customers, muttering something about "wackos and lunatics."

"Well, I guess we don't need his help then," Manta uncertainly said.

"Then let us get going!" Faust happily exclaimed, heading back to his abandoned cart. Manta followed, looking at his notepad and wondering what in the world he had drawn, but soon ran into the back of Faust's legs. He looked up, rubbing his nose, to see his companion looking pensively at a scrap piece of paper in his hands, which Manta suspected it to be the shopping list.

"Manta-kun, would you kindly go get a melon for me?"

"A melon?" Manta asked, confused. "What for?"

"For dinner, of course!" Faust laughed as if Manta had asked the most silliest question in the world. "I'll be over at the vegetable section; we'll need more than this one bag of neamjeen!"

"Um... All right... But Faust?"

"Yes?"

"Why was the vegetable you were looking for banned?" Manta asked tentatively.

"Oh, it just made the consumers a bit delirious and there was something about them blocking nerve impulses and causing hallucinations in the papers," Faust sighed. "Such a shame. They were a delightful treat to all the Fausts, you know."

And as Manta watched Faust merrily raid the rows of carrots, the human boy suddenly had a gut feeling that this whole Faust fixing dinner thing was a terrible idea and made a mental note to pick a bone with a certain brunette shaman.

* * *

"Damn it, Ryu..." Horohoro muttered as he fished out dishes from the cabinet. "Of all the tasks, he just HAD to assign me for making dinner." 

"Why? Would you rather be vacuuming?" Chocolove asked as he idly balanced a cup on his forehead. Mick was eyeing the teetering cup nervously.

"I'd rather do ANYTHING that doesn't involve Eliza," the ainu grumbled. Chocolove grinned.

"Better not let Faust hear that or he'll come" - he was suddenly wearing a crude blonde wig and purple lipstick - "dissect you with his-Ow!"

Horohoro smirked as Chocolove caressed his nose, which was covered in soft frost. Kororo giggled.

"Seriously, Choco-baka," Horohoro said as he rolled his eyes. "I'm not kidding. That woman's face doesn't show anything! Zip, none, nada! Who knows what she's thinking!"

"Sure she does," Chocolove said irritably as he rubbed his nose. "She's always smiling when she's with Faust."

"When she's WITH him. And obviously, Faust's not here is he?" he scowled. "And how are we going to even communicate with her anyways? None of us speaks German."

"Body language will connect us all. Just chill it, Horo! What could-" he abruptly stopped and without warning, broke into peals of laughter.

"What?" Horohoro demanded irritably as Chocolove began panting for breath. "What's so funny?"

"You're- ha! -an ainu and-haha!-chill!" the African American wheezed as he held onto his stomach. "Now THAT was a good joke!"

"Oh, haha," Horohoro muttered, rolling his eyes. "Want me to chill your nose again for you?"

"Relax, Horo," Chocolove teased as he threw an arm around his shoulders. "What could a dead German nurse do to you?"

Just then Eliza chose to walk into the kitchen, but not in her usual nurse outfit. Both boys took in a sharp intake of air when they got a good look of her attire. She was dressed in very short shorts that barely reached her mid-thigh. A red spaghetti strap clung to her dainty waist and ample chest and her long blonde hair was tied in a loose ponytail, which she let it hang over one shoulder. She paused when she saw the boys gawking at her with open mouths.

"Um...Eliza?" Horohoro hesitantly said as he pointed at her clothes. "Where... Where did you get those clothes?"

Eliza, still not able to speak semi-fluent Japanese like her husband, gave the ainu a questioning look. She noticed him pointing at her clothing and got the gist. She pointed back at Horohoro.

"What? Me?" he asked incredulously as he pointed at himself.

"Horo, I didn't know you had such taste in clothes..." Chocolove said with a sly grin. Horohoro scowled.

"She's trying to say something else, dumbass," he mumbled as he unhooked Chocolove's arm from his neck. And sure enough, Eliza kept pointing at Horohoro then bringing her right hand down to her waist and then bringing both hands up to her hair and sliding them down to her shoulders. "Pi..." She said with an uncertain voice. "Pi..."

"Pi?" Chocolove repeated, confused.

"Pi..."

"Pillica?" Horohoro suggested.

Eliza paused with a light, surprised face before smiling warmly. "Ja, Pillica."

"Ohhh- I get it! Pillica picked out clothes for you last time she was here!" Chocolove said triumphantly. "See, Horo? We can communicate fine with body language! ...Horo?" The ainu in question was deliberately turning his face away from his friend. Curious, Chocolove leaned towards Horohoro and a brilliant grin spread across his face in a matter of seconds. "Oh, Horohoro-kun," he said in a singsong voice, "why is your face turning red?"

And indeed, the ainu's normally pale face was a deep scarlet. He shoved Chocolove's grinning face away and muttered, "It's warm in here."

"Oh, is it?" Chocolove grinned even wider. He threw an arm around the ainu's neck again and pulled him close. "Or is it because the former German nurse that freaked you out turns out to be drop dead sexy in those pants?" he slyly said, pointing at Eliza who was busy washing vegetables at the sink. Kororo made a strange hissing noise, but both shamans could see that the little pixie was disturbed with the thought.

"Cut it out, baka," Horohoro muttered angrily as he wriggled out of Chocolove's arm. "And you too, Kororo," he added to his spirit, irritated. "I was just surprised that she was smiling, all right?"

"Uh-huh," the African American said slyly. Horohoro scowled.

"Horohoro, Chocolove."

The two shamans looked towards the open doorway to see Amidamaru poking his head inside the kitchen. "Yoh-danna asked me to tell you that the refrigerator should be cleaned out too. Especially the freezer. There's-" He was about to say more, but a loud crash caught his attention and the spirit quickly glided away.

"Got it, Amida!" Chocolove called after the samurai. "So, Horohoro-kun," he said as he turned towards his friend, "why don't I work on the fridge and you go over help Eliza? You know, the hot nurse you can't pry your eyes off from." He snickered as he dodged a block of ice and went over to the fridge, Mick scampering after him.

Groaning inwardly, Horohoro hesitantly went over to Eliza.

"Hey, uh, Eliza? Uh... Do you need any help?"

Horohoro didn't really think she understood what he said, but she briefly pointed at something on the counter beside him.

"Huh?" he responded, not quite have been able to see what she had pointed at. She glanced at him sideways, a somewhat irritated look in her eyes, and leaned across from him to reach for the object.

Exposing much of her chest to the ainu.

Horohoro's eyes lingered downwards before rocketing upwards to stare at the ceiling, his cheeks burning. He was busy making a mental note to talk to Pillica about her taste in clothes to notice that Eliza had already achieved a knife and had straightened up again. She looked at him quizzically before shaking her head. She shook him gently by the shoulder to get his attention.

"Wha- Huh? Oh, right," Horohoro mumbled, flustered. "Uh... Do you need any help?"

Sighing, the German nurse turned him around and steered him towards the fridge, where Chocolove was digging out bulges of frozen packages out of the freezer while Mick dug into the almost empty fridge. Eliza merely pointed at the fridge and Chocolove, giving Horohoro a look of "Just stay out of my way and help him, and returned to the sink to fetch the washed vegetables. The teenage ainu was still red in the face while Chocolove and Mick both gave him teasing looks.

"Aww, don't be so disappointed, Horo," Chocolove snickered. "You'll have your chance to hit on the sexy nurse. Besides, this is the best task for you to _chill_ out."

And Chocolove's nose got frost bitten for the second time of the evening.

* * *

**Vocabulary:**

**Ano **- Japanese version of "Um..."

**Tsumimasen - **Excuse me

**Hai - **Yes

**Ja -** Yes (German)

**Just a quick question:**

Does anyone know about Shaman King2? There are rumors going on that Shaman King2 has been published already in Japan, Spain, and the US but some say that people are just getting it confused with the ManKing book(a Shaman King fan book)... I really do hope a sequel manga will come out(the manga ending was really terrible sob...).

Reviews will be great:) Thank you for reading!


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